Woolworths Mobile plans review

Telstra, and Telstra MVNOs (providers that use the Telstra network), aren't normally the first providers you think of for value. However, Woolworths Mobile and ALDI Mobile are the exceptions.

The most you will pay for a Woolworths Mobile SIM Only plan is $45 per month, and that comes with 55GB of data (with a 200GB data bank), unlimited standard national calls and text, and a 10% discount off one Woolies shop a month (up to $500).

Woolworths Mobile is one of the few providers offering discounts on Samsung Galaxy handsets if you pre-order or purchase at launch. For early adopters, Woolworths Mobile is typically the best choice for the latest Samsung Galaxy handsets, but let's take a look at SIM Only plans.

The Woolworths Mobile $25 SIM Only plan comes with 22GB of data for $25 a month.

If you want better SIM Only value for at least 18GB of data, you’re looking at an Optus or Vodafone MVNO. Moose Mobile in particular offers great value on the Optus network, as do Circles.Life and Spintel, even when these telcos don’t have their typical promo-pricing specials. All Telstra MVNO plans have 18GB of base data and cost around the $25 mark.

Below is a daily updating list of popular SIM Only plans with at least 18GB of data that don’t cost more than $30 a month.

There’s dollars-for-data parity when you step up to the Woolworths Mobile $35 SIM Only plan, which comes with 42GB of data.

The two best-value SIM Only plans around this price and data point are both from Vodafone MVNOs: the iiNet Mobile 40GB Plan and the Internode Large 40GB Plan. Circles.Life is the Optus MVNO mainstay at the sub-$40 price point and sets a high bar with 100GB of data. For the Telstra network, the Belong 40GB Mobile Plan comes with 40GB of data ahead of the Woolworths Mobile plan above.

Below is a daily updating list of popular SIM Only plans with at least 35GB of data that don’t cost more than $40 a month.

Woolworths Mobile’s most expensive plan is the $45 SIM Only plan, which comes with 90GB of data.

Familiar telcos return to compete at this price point, too, most notably the iiNet Mobile 55GB Plan, the Internode Extra Large 55GB Plan, and the Circles.Life 100GB Monthly Plan. Belong, once again, steps in to offer the best-value Telstra MVNO plan with its 80GB Mobile plan for $45 a month.

Below is a daily updating list of popular SIM Only plans that come with at least 55GB of data and don’t cost more than $50 a month.

Woolworths Mobile also offers Prepaid plan, split across 30-day expiry and long-expiry 365-day alternatives. The Woolworths Mobile website lists a 1GB Prepaid plan for $10 a month and a 55GB plan for $50 a month, but both were listed as out of stock at the time of updating this review.

That means the cheapest Woolworths Mobile Prepaid plan is the Prepaid Mobile $20 Recharge, which comes with 12GB of data.

This cheapest Woolworths Mobile plan offers great value for this price point if you’re in the market for a Prepaid plan that uses the Telstra network. For better overall value, the Coles Mobile Prepaid $20 for 30 Days plan offers 15GB of data and unlimited international calls to 15 selected countries (albeit on the Optus network).

Below is a daily updating list of popular SIM Only plans with at least 6GB of data.

If you’re okay paying $10 a month, there’s a lot more data (32GB) to be found in the Woolworths Mobile Prepaid Mobile $30 Recharge.

The Lebara Mobile $29.90 Medium Plan, Boost Mobile $30 Prepaid plan and Optus Prepaid Epic Data - $30 Recharge all offer better value for the same price at first glance, but that value is buttressed by bonus data that disappears after the first three recharges. This means the Woolworths Mobile Prepaid Mobile $30 Recharge has competitive pricing at this price point.

Below is a daily updating list of popular Prepaid plans with at least 30GB of data.

The value is still strong when you step up to the Woolworths Mobile Prepaid Mobile $40 Recharge, which includes 65GB of data.

Amaysim, Lebara and Optus all offer plans that look better at first glance, but they’re boosted by bonus data and the Lebara and Optus plans are 28-day offerings. It’s a similar story for the Boost Mobile $40 Prepaid, which is another Telstra MVNO plan that has the same price as Woolworths Mobile, but its 50GB of data drops to 30GB on the fourth recharge.

Below is a daily updating list of popular Prepaid plans with at least 42GB of data.

The Woolworths Mobile website lists a 12GB 180-day plan for $60, but it was out of stock at the time of writing.

That leaves two 365-day Woolworths Mobile long-expiry plans, the first of which is the Prepaid $170 Long Expiry Recharge, which comes with 125GB of data (10.41GB per month).

Aside from Lebara, which offers a 30-day plan with 100GB of data, all Prepaid plans that offer 100GB of data or more fall into the long-expiry category. The Amaysim Unlimited 125GB Long Expiry plan charges $150 for 150GB of data, but that’s only for six months, which leaves the Coles Mobile Prepaid $150 for 365 Days as the only long-expiry plan with better value care of its 120GB of data.

Below is a daily updating list of popular 365-day Prepaid plans.

The other long-expiry Woolworths Mobile plan is the Prepaid $200 Long Expiry Recharge, which comes with 150GB of data split into 110GB of base data and 40GB of bonus data (12.5GB per month).

The main reason you’d consider this more expensive long-expiry Woolworths Mobile Prepaid plan is because you want more data flexibility throughout the year. In terms of cost, it’s competing with the cheaper Woolworths Mobile alternative, but Kogan Mobile offers 30GB more data for cheaper (albeit on the Vodafone network) with the Medium - 365 Day Flex Plan, while Boost Mobile’s $200 Prepaid plan is very similar.

Below is a daily updating list of popular 365-day Prepaid plans with at least 150GB of data.

Woolworths Mobile may not sell any of the iPhone 12 handsets, or any Apple handsets for that matter, but there are plenty of Android options to choose from. These range from budget picks to mid-range contenders and flagship alternatives from the Samsung Galaxy line.

Outside of Samsung, the only other brand Woolworths Mobile was building with its Postpaid plans at the time of writing was Oppo phones. Even though Woolworths Mobile wasn’t offering 5G phone plans at the time of updating this review, it still sells 5G handsets, including the Oppo Find X3 Neo. On the other end of the scale, Woolworths Mobile regularly has bragging rights to our pick of an affordable phone plan with a decent amount of data on our best mobile plans page.

Below is a list of some of the smartphones that Woolworths Mobile offers as part of its Postpaid plans (click on ‘View Full Results’ in the bottom left to see more options).

Whether you go with a SIM Only or Prepaid plan, the monthly Woolworths Mobile plans come with a 200GB data bank, which is great for carrying over unused data. Outside of the cheapest $25 SIM Only Plan, all other SIM Only plans come with unlimited talk and text to 22 selected countries:

It’s the same story for Woolworths Mobile Prepaid plans, too, with all of the 30-day recharges coming with unlimited talk and text to those 22 selected countries, except if you opt for the cheaper Prepaid Mobile $20 Recharge.

The big consistent perk for all Woolworths Mobile customers, though, is the 10% discount for a monthly Woolies shop (up to a $50 discount). Similarly, the other big consistent perk is that Woolworths Mobile operates on the Telstra wholesale network, which is second only to being a Telstra customer in terms of coverage.

International travellers with SIM Only plans can purchase roaming packs, those using long-expiry plans can gift data to other Woolworths Mobile friends and family who are also on long-expiry plans, and the telco also offers phone plans.

Woolworths Mobile has a good range of customer service options, like live chat, phone support, not to mention a physical store presence thanks to Woolies' chain of supermarkets. And while Woolworths Mobile doesn't quite have a spotless track record with customers, it still fares much better than the big three (Telstra, Optus, and Vodafone).

There's also something to be said for the fact that you can always visit a Woolworths supermarket location if you have any questions or need to recharge. That's a service that few MVNOs offer.

While providers like Moose Mobile have stellar customer ratings across Product Review, Trustpilot, Google and Facebook, the only user reviews we could find for Woolworths Mobile are on Product Review. At the time of updating this review, there were more than 850 reviews and a 2.5 rating out of five, which breaks down to 2.4 for value for money, 1.7 for customer service, 3.2 for local reception and 2 for transparency.

That 2.5 score may not sound flash, but it means Woolworths Mobile is able to scrape into the top 10 for reported customer satisfaction from the telcos we track.

How to contact Woolworths Mobile

Woolworths Mobile has an incredibly helpful and responsive live chat service over on its website. All you need to do is head over to Woolies' support page and click the green ‘live chat’ button in the bottom-right corner of the screen.

Alternatively, you can contact Woolworths Mobile on the phone at 1300 101 234.

How to contact Woolworths Mobile

Woolworths Mobile has an incredibly helpful and responsive live chat service over on its website. All you need to do is head over to Woolies' support page and click the green ‘live chat’ button in the bottom-right corner of the screen.

Alternatively, you can contact Woolworths Mobile on the phone at 1300 101 234.

How to recharge your Woolworths Mobile plan

You can check your usage and remaining balance, recharge your plan or buy an add-on and manage everything else account-related via the Woolworths Mobile App, available in iOS and Android.

Otherwise, you can also recharge your service online at the Woolworths Mobile website.

Woolworths Mobile login options

To login, head to Woolworths Mobile's website and enter your registered email or mobile number associated with your plan and your login password. Once you've logged in, you'll be able to check your plan details, current balance and recharge or make any other changes to your existing plan.

Pick the Woolworths Mobile plan that you like the look of below and click on the ‘Go’ button next to it. This will take you directly to the corresponding plans portion of Woolworths Mobile website. Click on ‘Buy Now’ to confirm the plan you’re interested in, then follow the prompts to complete sign-up.

Below is a list of all available SIM Only and Prepaid Woolworths Mobile plans.

Woolworths Mobile uses the Telstra 3G/4G wholesale network that Telstra MVNOs have access to. The difference in coverage is minimal. The wholesale network covers 98.8% of populated Australia, and Telstra’s own reaches about 99.4%. The wholesale network used by Woolworths Mobile still has more coverage than both Optus and Vodafone.

Take a look at the map below to compare the wholesale network with the full Telstra network.

To give you an idea of how Woolworths Mobile's plans with other Telstra MVNOs, we've rounded up the most popular plans on the Telstra network this week.

At the time of updating this review, Woolworths Mobile did not offer SIM Only or Prepaid 5G plans. Currently, only Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and Spintel offer 5G plans. Below is a daily updating list of the most popular 5G SIM Only plans.